An Austro-Hungarian soldier posing for the camera, leaning on his rifle, bayonet at his waist. He is from the k.u.k (kaiserlich und königlich/imperial and royal) Landsturm Battalion No. 83, a reserve militia of men 34 to 55, some of whom saw active duty.
Reverse:k.u.k (kaiserlich und königlich/imperial and royal) Landsturm Bataillon No. 83k.u.k (kaiserlich und königlich/imperial and royal) Landsturm Battalion No. 83Emil Lorenz, Photograph. Böhm Leipa Herrengasse 243
"[In May, 1918] national aspirations began to emerge in the Austrian army. On May 12 there was a mutiny in the heart of Austria, at the Styrian town of Judenburg, when an infantry platoon captured the barracks and munition stores, looted the food stores, and destroyed the telephone and telegraph lines. The platoon was largely Slovene. Their cry was: 'Let us go home comrades, this is not only for us but also for our friends on the fronts. The war must be ended now, whoever is a Slovene, join us. We are going home; they should give us more to eat and end the war; up with the Bolsheviks, long live bread, down with the war.'"
As the war dragged on, the Austro-Hungarian Empire increasingly fractured along ethnic lines. Austria's food shortages and subsequent riots had been exacerbated in January 1918 by Hungary's refusal to send food to its imperial partner. In the same month of May as the Slovene mutiny, Czech and other Slavik nationals met in Prague and held anti-Hapsburg demonstrations. The March 1918 peace that followed the Bolshevik Revolution saw the ostensible birth or rebirth of nations (even if dominated by Germany) holding out the promise not only of peace, but of the achievement of national aspirations.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, pp. 421–422, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
1918-05-12, 1918, May, mutiny, k.u.k Landsturm
